The dilapidated structure of the Magen Avraham synagogue is nearly all that remains of the Jewish presence in Lebanon. A once vibrant community that numbered in the tens of thousands is now almost non-existent. The few Jews that remain in Lebanon live as discreetly as possible. A new project to raise $1 million, launched by the Lebanese Jewish Community Council to restore the Magen Avraham synagogue in downtown Beirut, holds the possibility of bringing back the community’s presence. Those behind the renovation plan want to reestablish Magen Avraham as a functioning synagogue, and they’ve raised hopes that an overt Jewish presence in Beirut and the Mount Lebanon environs — which has Jewish history that may stretch back as far as 3,000 years — can emerge again.

In the heart of Beirut is the distinctive shell of the City Center that has been affectionately renamed the ‘Egg’. The Egg with its nose chopped off and deep scars on its exterior skin has been passed through dramatic changes in its fifty years of existence. Ever since Solidere in 2005 sold the land to Abu Dhabi Investment House as part of the Beirut Gate project the Egg has been constantly threatened with demolition. Solidere sold the land without any legal protection or financial incentive to save the Egg meaning its destruction is almost inevitable. For now the July 2006 war stopped its imminent demolition and the financial crisis delayed the bulldozers further. However, the end appears to be near for one of the last iconic, modernist architectural structures in the heart of Beirut that also carries with it the physical manifestations of the war years.

Lebanon has an exasperating array of economic issues which will need to be tackled by the new government that will be formed after the June 7th general elections. Many leaders speak about economic plans and reform, but can their walk match the talk?
“Not one of the current candidates for the upcoming elections has a clear understandable economic vision for Lebanon,” says Oussama Safa, the general director for the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies. “This shows that accountability and checks and balances have no part in the elections. The elections are a battle of slogans not programs.”
As part of this magazine’s election coverage, Executive has asked Lebanese business figures, academics, economists and civil society leaders to provide what they think the economic priorities for the next government should be.
Stability seems to be top priority.

The relationship between the Lebanese government and the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon is changing. The process of redefining the old relationship began explosively with the battle and subsequent demolition of the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, near the northern city of Tripoli, in 2007. Now the Lebanese army is erecting a barrier around the nearby Baddawi refugee camp because of "security concerns."

BEIRUT, 10 March 2009 (IRIN) - The last time Danny Abu Haidar participated in Lebanon’s democratic process, the experience left him feeling unable to vote independently.

But it was not political bribery or sectarian pressures that affected Haidar on the day of the 2007 Beirut by-election, but the simple, practical matter of physical access.

“When I arrived at the polling station I was not allowed to park my car outside,” said Haidar, a wheelchair user. “I had to park my car 150 metres away and then get people to assist me to the polling station.”

On arriving to cast his vote, Haidar discovered the polling station was on the second floor of the building, meaning he needed two men to carry him and his wheelchair up the stairs.